1. Field
The invention is related to a method for making a bent tip fiber ball lens.
2. Related Art
The background information provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Ball lenses may be used with optical fibers to aid in focusing light emanating from an optical fiber, coupling light between adjacent optical fibers. As such, ball lenses are used for a variety of purposes in optical probes for biomedical applications. However, in some applications it is advantageous to have the ball lens that is bent at the end. For example, in some applications, there is a bundle of fibers with at least one fiber connected to a laser and at least one connected to a camera. The camera fiber can then be used to observe the operation of the laser. However, if the end of the camera fiber is too close to the end of the laser, the camera fiber can be damaged (melted) by the laser. Thus, a bent tip fiber is used to create a separation form the end of the camera fiber and the end of the laser.
For many of these medical applications, the ball lens fiber is designed for a one time use, due to the strong laser beam that will evaporate both the target and the fiber end. Therefore, there is a need for large quantities of bent ball lens. The requirement of production, automation, and repeatability is a major concern. The current manually heat and bend method relies too much on the experience of operators. Therefore, an automated programmable process using existing fully automated fusion splicers is a desired solution.